April 17 - Obama Takes on the Oil Speculators; Waning U.S. Influence in the Americas; A Realistic Analysis of the "Arab Spring"

We begin with an analysis of the President’s proposals today to stop Wall Street speculation which is driving up the price of gasoline as much as 40%. Michael Greenberger, the former Director of Trading and Markets at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, who have oversight over trading in commodities, joins us to discuss whether these proposals, assuming they are enacted, will stop the gouging at the pump by Wall Street predators and parasites.

Then we assess the recent Summit of the Americas in Colombia that was upstaged by a minor scandal involving Obama’s Secret Service detail that the conservative media have been trying to tie to the president and milk for all it’s worth. We get a critique on what actually transpired among the hemisphere’s leaders and how much the U.S. is being left behind. Elizabeth Dickinson who writes the UnderReported column for the World Affairs Journal where she has an article “At the Summit of the Americas, Washington Looks Behind the Times”, joins us.

Then finally we are joined in the studio by UCLA historian James Gelvin, an expert on Syria and the Middle East, who has a new book “The Arab Uprising: What Everyone Needs to Know”. We discuss the misreading and misunderstanding of the so-called “Arab Spring” that is prevalent in the West and the media, and the various revolutions in the region, and get a sobering briefing on the future of Syria.